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Lot Essay
The recessed-leg table is one of the most well-known and recognizable forms in classical Chinese furniture. Tables of this elegant and restrained form trace their origins to the furniture design of the Song dynasty, and several variations on this type are known. The basic proportions were adapted to make large painting tables, smaller tables, benches and stools. Tables of the size of the present table are generally referred to as painting tables.
For a similar huanghuali recessed-leg table, see the 16th/17th century example illustrated by Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago, 1995, p. 114, no. 54, later sold at Christie’s, New York, 19 September 1996, lot 75. Evarts also points out that this basic form of table has been repeatedly depicted in paintings, as well, from as early as the Song dynasty (960- 1279). See, also, Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, pp. 122-23, no. 40, for a similar painting table dated to the 17th century.
For a similar huanghuali recessed-leg table, see the 16th/17th century example illustrated by Wang Shixiang and Curtis Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago, 1995, p. 114, no. 54, later sold at Christie’s, New York, 19 September 1996, lot 75. Evarts also points out that this basic form of table has been repeatedly depicted in paintings, as well, from as early as the Song dynasty (960- 1279). See, also, Robert D. Jacobsen and Nicholas Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, pp. 122-23, no. 40, for a similar painting table dated to the 17th century.